Public hearing slated for Riverfront project in Everett

EVERETT — The public will get an opportunity to comment on the latest iteration of the proposed Riverfront development.

Riverfront, a mixed-use neighborhood east of I-5 along the Snohomish River, has been in the works for a decade since San Diego real estate developer OliverMcMillan signed on to build it.

Polygon Northwest Inc. of Bellevue purchased the property in July 2013, and last month Newport Beach, Calif.-based William Lyon Homes bought Polygon’s residential homebuilding business for $520 million, which included the parcels in the Riverfront area.

Polygon still owns the section of Riverfront that is slated to become a commercial zone.

Earlier this year Polygon made some changes to the plan for the “Simpson Pad” site, a planned residential neighborhood on 40 acres at the southern end of the Riverfront property, which is also the former site of the Simpson Paper Co. mill.

The revised plan calls for 226 single-family detached houses on the site, fewer than the original plan (which included some multifamily housing) and the 650 maximum set by the city.

The City Council approved the overall changes to the development plan in March.

Tuesday’s hearing will focus on more of the details of the project in order for it to qualify for its required shoreline permits, said Allen Giffen, the city’s director of Planning and Community Development.

Those details include things such as street width and subdivision improvements.

“It takes it down to a greater level of detail than was addressed in the City Council’s approval of the development agreement,” Giffen said.

A public hearing on the “Simpson Pad” tract of the Riverfront development project will be held Tuesday at 9 a.m. in the Eighth Floor Hearing Room, 2930 Wetmore Ave., Everett. The hearing is focusing on the project’s shoreline and other permits. For more information, go to ci.everett.wa.us/default.aspx?ID=1075.